Tamil Nadu notified the country's first Dugong Conservation Reserve in Palk Bay, covering the coastal waters of Thanjavur &Pudukkottai districts with an area of 448 sq km.
Dugongs are the largest herbivorous marine mammals in the world, thriving primarily on seagrass beds, a major carbon sink of the oceans.Dugong is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest modern relative, Steller's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas), was hunted to extinction in the 18th century.
Dugongs are protected under Schedule 1 of the Wild Life (Protection )Act 1972.However, their population is on the decline due to habitat loss.
There are only about 240 dugongs present in the country, and majority of them are found on Palk Bay.
Conserving Dugongs will help in protecting and improving seagrass beds and sequestering more atmospheric carbon.Seagrass beds are also the breeding and feeding grounds for many commercially valuable fishes and marine fauna. Hence, thousands of fisher families directly depend on Dugong habitats for their income.
A great effort of conservation for the future 🙏
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